Real-time processing in wireless communications systems

ABSTRACT

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for real-time processing in wireless communications systems. An interruption of processing of one or more first symbol packets at one or more wireless communication components is detected. A predetermined period of time for a delay in processing of one or more second symbol packets is determined. Processing of one or more second symbol packets is delayed until expiration of the predetermined period of time. Processing of one or more second symbol packets is then performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

In some implementations, the current subject matter relates totelecommunications systems, and in particular, to real-time processingin wireless communications systems, such as, for example, 5G New Radio(“NR”).

BACKGROUND

In today's world, cellular networks provide on-demand communicationscapabilities to individuals and business entities. Typically, a cellularnetwork is a wireless network that can be distributed over land areas,which are called cells. Each such cell is served by at least onefixed-location transceiver, which is referred to as a cell site or abase station. Each cell can use a different set of frequencies than itsneighbor cells in order to avoid interference and provide improvedservice within each cell. When cells are joined together, they provideradio coverage over a wide geographic area, which enables a large numberof mobile telephones, and/or other wireless devices or portabletransceivers to communicate with each other and with fixed transceiversand telephones anywhere in the network. Such communications areperformed through base stations and are accomplished even if when mobiletransceivers are moving through more than one cell during transmission.Major wireless communications providers have deployed such cell sitesthroughout the world, thereby allowing communications mobile phones andmobile computing devices to be connected to the public switchedtelephone network and public Internet.

A mobile telephone is a portable telephone that is capable of receivingand/or making telephone and/or data calls through a cell site or atransmitting tower by using radio waves to transfer signals to and fromthe mobile telephone. In view of a large number of mobile telephoneusers, current mobile telephone networks provide a limited and sharedresource. In that regard, cell sites and handsets can change frequencyand use low power transmitters to allow simultaneous usage of thenetworks by many callers with less interference. Coverage by a cell sitecan depend on a particular geographical location and/or a number ofusers that can potentially use the network. For example, in a city, acell site can have a range of up to approximately ½ mile; in ruralareas, the range can be as much as 5 miles; and in some areas, a usercan receive signals from a cell site 25 miles away.

The following are examples of some of the digital cellular technologiesthat are in use by the communications providers: Global System forMobile Communications (“GSM”), General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”),cdmaOne, CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized (“EV-DO”), Enhanced DataRates for GSM Evolution (“EDGE”), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (“UMTS”), Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (“DECT”),Digital AMPS (“IS-136/TDMA”), and Integrated Digital Enhanced Network(“iDEN”). The Long Term Evolution, or 4G LTE, which was developed by theThird Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”) standards body, is astandard for a wireless communication of high-speed data for mobilephones and data terminals. A 5G LTE standard is currently beingdeveloped and deployed. LTE is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPAdigital cellular technologies and allows for increasing capacity andspeed by using a different radio interface together with core networkimprovements.

Deploying multiple real-time workloads in a virtualized/containerizedenvironment on a single non-uniform memory access node in a wirelesscommunications system has its challenges in the workload being able tomeet its real-time requirements. Shared resources in the underlyingprocessor (CPU) result in resource contention for Last Level Cache (LLC)and memory bandwidth consumption where in one workload can occupy morethan the required amount of such resources. This results in one of theworkloads being unable to meet its real-time requirements and affectsthe performance of the product/application requiring the application toexperience a restart and the associated service to undergo a servicedowntime. Typically, such class of problems are classified as “noisyneighbor” problems. These problems reduce overall service availabilityand reliability of real-time workloads in wireless communicationsystems.

SUMMARY

In some implementations, the current subject matter relates to acomputer implemented method for real-time processing in wirelesscommunications systems. The method can include detecting an interruptionof processing of one or more first symbol packets at one or morewireless communication components, determining a predetermined period oftime for a delay in processing of one or more second symbol packets,delaying processing of the one or more second symbol packets untilexpiration of the predetermined period of time, and performingprocessing of the one or more second symbol packets.

In some implementations, the current subject matter can include one ormore of the following optional features. In some implementations, atleast one of the detecting, the determining, the delaying, and theresuming can be performed by a base station. The base station caninclude at least one of the following communication components: one ormore remote radio units, one or more radio interface units, and one ormore distributed units. The distributed units can be configured tointerface with the radio interface units for processing of the first andsecond symbol packets.

In some implementations, the distributed units can be one or morevirtualized distributed units. The virtualized distributed units cancorrespond to one or more virtual machines being executed on a hostoperating system.

In some implementations, a first virtual machine can be configured todetect the interruption upon a restarting of a second virtual machine onthe same host operating system.

In some implementations, the predetermined period of time can bedetermined based on a multiple of a transmission time intervalcorresponding to a time for transmitting symbol packets between thevirtualized distributed units and the radio interface units. Forexample, the predetermined period of time can be 2 milliseconds.Alternatively, the predetermined period of time can be 5 milliseconds.In some implementations, the predetermined period of time can be Nmilliseconds (during which monitoring, detection and correction withoutservice disruption may be performed), where N can correspond to anamount of time after which the end user equipment can begin to noticeservice degradation and/or service interruption. In some exemplary,non-limiting implementations, N can be as high as hundreds (100s) ofmilliseconds.

In some implementations, the delaying can include de-queuing the firstsymbol packets from a processing queue. The first symbol packets can bede-queued and discarded by at least one of Layer 1 and Layer 2 of awireless communication device receiving the first symbol packets.

Non-transitory computer program products (i.e., physically embodiedcomputer program products) are also described that store instructions,which when executed by one or more data processors of one or morecomputing systems, causes at least one data processor to performoperations herein. Similarly, computer systems are also described thatmay include one or more data processors and memory coupled to the one ormore data processors. The memory may temporarily or permanently storeinstructions that cause at least one processor to perform one or more ofthe operations described herein. In addition, methods can be implementedby one or more data processors either within a single computing systemor distributed among two or more computing systems. Such computingsystems can be connected and can exchange data and/or commands or otherinstructions or the like via one or more connections, including but notlimited to a connection over a network (e.g., the Internet, a wirelesswide area network, a local area network, a wide area network, a wirednetwork, or the like), via a direct connection between one or more ofthe multiple computing systems, etc.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the descriptionbelow. Other features and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from theclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, show certain aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain someof the principles associated with the disclosed implementations. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1a illustrates an exemplary conventional long term evolution(“LTE”) communications system;

FIG. 1b illustrates further detail of the exemplary LTE system shown inFIG. 1 a;

FIG. 1c illustrates additional detail of the evolved packet core of theexemplary LTE system shown in FIG. 1 a;

FIG. 1d illustrates an exemplary evolved Node B of the exemplary LTEsystem shown in FIG. 1 a;

FIG. 2 illustrates further detail of an evolved Node B shown in FIGS. 1a-d;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary virtual radio access network, accordingto some implementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary 3GPP split architecture to provide itsusers with use of higher frequency bands;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary 5G wireless communication system;

FIG. 6 illustrates a 5G wireless communication system, according to someimplementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 7a illustrates a user plane protocol stack;

FIG. 7b illustrates a control plane protocol stack;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system for performing real-timeprocessing of data (e.g., data packets), according to someimplementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 9 illustrate an exemplary plot illustrating processing of symbolpackets;

FIG. 10 illustrate an exemplary process for handling conditions detectedby one or more virtual machines executed on a host operating system of avirtualized distributed unit of a base station, according to someimplementations of the current subject matter;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary process for maintaining real-time (orsubstantially real-time) processing of symbols in a wirelesscommunication system, according to some implementations of the currentsubject matter;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary system, according to someimplementations of the current subject matter; and

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary method, according to someimplementations of the current subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The current subject matter can provide for systems and methods that canbe implemented in lower layer split architecture for wirelesscommunications systems. Such systems can include various wirelesscommunications systems, including 5G New Radio communications systems,long term evolution communication systems, etc.

One or more aspects of the current subject matter can be incorporatedinto transmitter and/or receiver components of base stations (e.g.,gNodeBs, eNodeBs, etc.) in such communications systems. The following isa general discussion of long-term evolution communications systems and5G New Radio communication systems.

I. Long Term Evolution Communications System

FIGS. 1a-c and 2 illustrate an exemplary conventional long-termevolution (“LTE”) communication system 100 along with its variouscomponents. An LTE system or a 4G LTE, as it is commercially known, isgoverned by a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data formobile telephones and data terminals. The standard is based on theGSM/EDGE (“Global System for Mobile Communications”/“Enhanced Data ratesfor GSM Evolution”) as well as UMTS/HSPA (“Universal MobileTelecommunications System”/“High Speed Packet Access”) networktechnologies. The standard was developed by the 3GPP (“3rd GenerationPartnership Project”).

As shown in FIG. 1a , the system 100 can include an evolved universalterrestrial radio access network (“EUTRAN”) 102, an evolved packet core(“EPC”) 108, and a packet data network (“PDN”) 101, where the EUTRAN 102and EPC 108 provide communication between a user equipment 104 and thePDN 101. The EUTRAN 102 can include a plurality of evolved node B's(“eNodeB” or “ENODEB” or “enodeb” or “eNB”) or base stations 106 (a, b,c) (as shown in FIG. 1b ) that provide communication capabilities to aplurality of user equipment 104(a, b, c). The user equipment 104 can bea mobile telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a personal computer, apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), a server, a data terminal, and/orany other type of user equipment, and/or any combination thereof. Theuser equipment 104 can connect to the EPC 108 and eventually, the PDN101, via any eNodeB 106. Typically, the user equipment 104 can connectto the nearest, in terms of distance, eNodeB 106. In the LTE system 100,the EUTRAN 102 and EPC 108 work together to provide connectivity,mobility and services for the user equipment 104.

FIG. 1b illustrates further detail of the network 100 shown in FIG. 1a .As stated above, the EUTRAN 102 includes a plurality of eNodeBs 106,also known as cell sites. The eNodeBs 106 provides radio functions andperforms key control functions including scheduling of air linkresources or radio resource management, active mode mobility orhandover, and admission control for services. The eNodeBs 106 areresponsible for selecting which mobility management entities (MMEs, asshown in FIG. 1c ) will serve the user equipment 104 and for protocolfeatures like header compression and encryption. The eNodeBs 106 thatmake up an EUTRAN 102 collaborate with one another for radio resourcemanagement and handover.

Communication between the user equipment 104 and the eNodeB 106 occursvia an air interface 122 (also known as “LTE-Uu” interface). As shown inFIG. 1b , the air interface 122 provides communication between userequipment 104 b and the eNodeB 106 a. The air interface 122 usesOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (“OFDMA”) and SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (“SC-FDMA”), an OFDMAvariant, on the downlink and uplink respectively. OFDMA allows use ofmultiple known antenna techniques, such as, Multiple Input MultipleOutput (“MIMO”).

The air interface 122 uses various protocols, which include a radioresource control (“RRC”) for signaling between the user equipment 104and eNodeB 106 and non-access stratum (“NAS”) for signaling between theuser equipment 104 and MME (as shown in FIG. lc). In addition tosignaling, user traffic is transferred between the user equipment 104and eNodeB 106. Both signaling and traffic in the system 100 are carriedby physical layer (“PHY”) channels.

Multiple eNodeBs 106 can be interconnected with one another using an X2interface 130(a, b, c). As shown in FIG. 1a , X2 interface 130 aprovides interconnection between eNodeB 106 a and eNodeB 106 b; X2interface 130 b provides interconnection between eNodeB 106 a and eNodeB106 c; and X2 interface 130 c provides interconnection between eNodeB106 b and eNodeB 106 c. The X2 interface can be established between twoeNodeBs in order to provide an exchange of signals, which can include aload- or interference-related information as well as handover-relatedinformation. The eNodeBs 106 communicate with the evolved packet core108 via an S1 interface 124(a, b, c). The S1 interface 124 can be splitinto two interfaces: one for the control plane (shown as control planeinterface (S1-MME interface) 128 in FIG. 1c ) and the other for the userplane (shown as user plane interface (S1-U interface) 125 in FIG. 1c ).

The EPC 108 establishes and enforces Quality of Service (“QoS”) for userservices and allows user equipment 104 to maintain a consistent internetprotocol (“IP”) address while moving. It should be noted that each nodein the network 100 has its own IP address. The EPC 108 is designed tointerwork with legacy wireless networks. The EPC 108 is also designed toseparate control plane (i.e., signaling) and user plane (i.e., traffic)in the core network architecture, which allows more flexibility inimplementation, and independent scalability of the control and user datafunctions.

The EPC 108 architecture is dedicated to packet data and is shown inmore detail in FIG. 1c . The EPC 108 includes a serving gateway (S-GW)110, a PDN gateway (P-GW) 112, a mobility management entity (“MME”) 114,a home subscriber server (“HSS”) 116 (a subscriber database for the EPC108), and a policy control and charging rules function (“PCRF”) 118.Some of these (such as S-GW, P-GW, MME, and HSS) are often combined intonodes according to the manufacturer's implementation.

The S-GW 110 functions as an IP packet data router and is the userequipment's bearer path anchor in the EPC 108. Thus, as the userequipment moves from one eNodeB 106 to another during mobilityoperations, the S-GW 110 remains the same and the bearer path towardsthe EUTRAN 102 is switched to talk to the new eNodeB 106 serving theuser equipment 104. If the user equipment 104 moves to the domain ofanother S-GW 110, the MME 114 will transfer all of the user equipment'sbearer paths to the new S-GW. The S-GW 110 establishes bearer paths forthe user equipment to one or more P-GWs 112. If downstream data arereceived for an idle user equipment, the S-GW 110 buffers the downstreampackets and requests the MME 114 to locate and reestablish the bearerpaths to and through the EUTRAN 102.

The P-GW 112 is the gateway between the EPC 108 (and the user equipment104 and the EUTRAN 102) and PDN 101 (shown in FIG. 1a ). The P-GW 112functions as a router for user traffic as well as performs functions onbehalf of the user equipment. These include IP address allocation forthe user equipment, packet filtering of downstream user traffic toensure it is placed on the appropriate bearer path, enforcement ofdownstream QoS, including data rate. Depending upon the services asubscriber is using, there may be multiple user data bearer pathsbetween the user equipment 104 and P-GW 112. The subscriber can useservices on PDNs served by different P-GWs, in which case the userequipment has at least one bearer path established to each P-GW 112.During handover of the user equipment from one eNodeB to another, if theS-GW 110 is also changing, the bearer path from the P-GW 112 is switchedto the new S-GW.

The MME 114 manages user equipment 104 within the EPC 108, includingmanaging subscriber authentication, maintaining a context forauthenticated user equipment 104, establishing data bearer paths in thenetwork for user traffic, and keeping track of the location of idlemobiles that have not detached from the network. For idle user equipment104 that needs to be reconnected to the access network to receivedownstream data, the MME 114 initiates paging to locate the userequipment and re-establishes the bearer paths to and through the EUTRAN102. MME 114 for a particular user equipment 104 is selected by theeNodeB 106 from which the user equipment 104 initiates system access.The MME is typically part of a collection of MMEs in the EPC 108 for thepurposes of load sharing and redundancy. In the establishment of theuser's data bearer paths, the MME 114 is responsible for selecting theP-GW 112 and the S-GW 110, which will make up the ends of the data paththrough the EPC 108.

The PCRF 118 is responsible for policy control decision-making, as wellas for controlling the flow-based charging functionalities in the policycontrol enforcement function (“PCEF”), which resides in the P-GW 110.The PCRF 118 provides the QoS authorization (QoS class identifier(“QCI”) and bit rates) that decides how a certain data flow will betreated in the PCEF and ensures that this is in accordance with theuser's subscription profile.

As stated above, the IP services 119 are provided by the PDN 101 (asshown in FIG. 1a ).

FIG. 1d illustrates an exemplary structure of eNodeB 106. The eNodeB 106can include at least one remote radio head (“RRH”) 132 (typically, therecan be three RRH 132) and a baseband unit (“BBU”) 134. The RRH 132 canbe connected to antennas 136. The RRH 132 and the BBU 134 can beconnected using an optical interface that is compliant with commonpublic radio interface (“CPRI”) 142 standard specification. Theoperation of the eNodeB 106 can be characterized using the followingstandard parameters (and specifications): radio frequency band (Band4,Band9, Band17), bandwidth (5, 10, 15, 20 MHz), access scheme (downlink:OFDMA; uplink: SC-OFDMA), antenna technology (downlink: 2×2 MIMO;uplink: 1×2 single input multiple output (“SIMO”)), number of sectors (6maximum), maximum transmission power (60W), maximum transmission rate(downlink: 150 Mb/s; uplink: 50 Mb/s), S1/×2 interface (1000Base-SX,1000Base-T), and mobile environment (up to 350 km/h). The BBU 134 can beresponsible for digital baseband signal processing, termination of S1line, termination of X2 line, call processing and monitoring controlprocessing. IP packets that are received from the EPC 108 (not shown inFIG. 1d ) can be modulated into digital baseband signals and transmittedto the RRH 132. Conversely, the digital baseband signals received fromthe RRH 132 can be demodulated into IP packets for transmission to EPC108.

The RRH 132 can transmit and receive wireless signals using antennas136. The RRH 132 can convert (using converter (“CONV”) 140) digitalbaseband signals from the BBU 134 into radio frequency (“RF”) signalsand power amplify (using amplifier (“AMP”) 138) them for transmission touser equipment 104 (not shown in FIG. 1d ). Conversely, the RF signalsthat are received from user equipment 104 are amplified (using AMP 138)and converted (using CONV 140) to digital baseband signals fortransmission to the BBU 134.

FIG. 2 illustrates an additional detail of an exemplary eNodeB 106. TheeNodeB 106 includes a plurality of layers: LTE layer 1 202, LTE layer 2204, and LTE layer 3 206. The LTE layer 1 includes a physical layer(“PHY”). The LTE layer 2 includes a medium access control (“MAC”), aradio link control (“RLC”), a packet data convergence protocol (“PDCP”).The LTE layer 3 includes various functions and protocols, including aradio resource control (“RRC”), a dynamic resource allocation, eNodeBmeasurement configuration and provision, a radio admission control, aconnection mobility control, and radio resource management (“RRM”). TheRLC protocol is an automatic repeat request (“ARQ”) fragmentationprotocol used over a cellular air interface. The RRC protocol handlescontrol plane signaling of LTE layer 3 between the user equipment andthe EUTRAN. RRC includes functions for connection establishment andrelease, broadcast of system information, radio bearerestablishment/reconfiguration and release, RRC connection mobilityprocedures, paging notification and release, and outer loop powercontrol. The PDCP performs IP header compression and decompression,transfer of user data and maintenance of sequence numbers for RadioBearers. The BBU 134, shown in FIG. 1d , can include LTE layers L1-L3.

One of the primary functions of the eNodeB 106 is radio resourcemanagement, which includes scheduling of both uplink and downlink airinterface resources for user equipment 104, control of bearer resources,and admission control. The eNodeB 106, as an agent for the EPC 108, isresponsible for the transfer of paging messages that are used to locatemobiles when they are idle. The eNodeB 106 also communicates commoncontrol channel information over the air, header compression, encryptionand decryption of the user data sent over the air, and establishinghandover reporting and triggering criteria. As stated above, the eNodeB106 can collaborate with other eNodeB 106 over the X2 interface for thepurposes of handover and interference management. The eNodeBs 106communicate with the EPC's MME via the S1-MME interface and to the S-GWwith the S1-U interface. Further, the eNodeB 106 exchanges user datawith the S-GW over the S1-U interface. The eNodeB 106 and the EPC 108have a many-to-many relationship to support load sharing and redundancyamong MMEs and S-GWs. The eNodeB 106 selects an MME from a group of MMEsso the load can be shared by multiple MMEs to avoid congestion.

II. 5G NR Wireless Communications Networks

In some implementations, the current subject matter relates to a 5G newradio (“NR”) communications system. The 5G NR is a nexttelecommunications standard beyond the 4G/IMT-Advanced standards. 5Gnetworks offer at higher capacity than current 4G, allow higher numberof mobile broadband users per area unit, and allow consumption of higherand/or unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user. Thiscan allow users to stream high-definition media many hours per day usingmobile devices, even when not Wi-Fi networks. 5G networks have animproved support of device-to-device communication, lower cost, lowerlatency than 4G equipment and lower battery consumption, etc. Suchnetworks have data rates of tens of megabits per second for a largenumber of users, data rates of 100 Mb/s for metropolitan areas, 1 Gb/ssimultaneously to users within a confined area (e.g., office floor), alarge number of simultaneous connections for wireless sensor networks,an enhanced spectral efficiency, improved coverage, enhanced signalingefficiency, 1-10 ms latency, reduced latency compared to existingsystems.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary virtual radio access network 300. Thenetwork 300 can provide communications between various components,including a base station (e.g., eNodeB, gNodeB) 301, a radio equipment307, a centralized unit 302, a digital unit 304, and a radio device 306.The components in the system 300 can be communicatively coupled to acore using a backhaul link 305. A centralized unit (“CU”) 302 can becommunicatively coupled to a distributed unit (“DU”) 304 using a midhaulconnection 308. The radio frequency (“RU”) components 306 can becommunicatively coupled to the DU 304 using a fronthaul connection 310.

In some implementations, the CU 302 can provide intelligentcommunication capabilities to one or more DU units 308. The units 302,304 can include one or more base stations, macro base stations, microbase stations, remote radio heads, etc. and/or any combination thereof.

In lower layer split architecture environment, a CPRI bandwidthrequirement for NR can be 100s of Gb/s. CPRI compression can beimplemented in the DU and RU (as shown in FIG. 3). In 5G communicationssystems, compressed CPRI over Ethernet frame is referred to as eCPRI andis the recommended fronthaul interface. The architecture can allow forstandardization of fronthaul/midhaul, which can include a higher layersplit (e.g., Option 2 or Option 3-1 (Upper/Lower RLC splitarchitecture)) and fronthaul with L1-split architecture (Option 7).

In some implementations, the lower layer-split architecture (e.g.,Option 7) can include a receiver in the uplink, joint processing acrossmultiple transmission points (TPs) for both DL/UL, and transportbandwidth and latency requirements for ease of deployment. Further, thecurrent subject matter's lower layer-split architecture can include asplit between cell-level and user-level processing, which can includecell-level processing in remote unit (“RU”) and user-level processing inDU. Further, using the current subject matter's lower layer-splitarchitecture, frequency-domain samples can be transported via Ethernetfronthaul, where the frequency-domain samples can be compressed forreduced fronthaul bandwidth.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary communications system 400 that canimplement a 5G technology and can provide its users with use of higherfrequency bands (e.g., greater than 10 GHz). The system 400 can includea macro cell 402 and small cells 404 and 406.

A mobile device 408 can be configured to communicate with one or more ofthe small cells 404, 406. The system 400 can allow splitting of controlplanes (C-plane) and user planes (U-plane) between the macro cell 402and small cells 404, 406, where the C-plane and U-plane are utilizingdifferent frequency bands. In particular, the small cells 402, 404 canbe configured to utilize higher frequency bands when communicating withthe mobile device 408. The macro cell 402 can utilize existing cellularbands for C-plane communications. The mobile device 408 can becommunicatively coupled via U-plane 412, where the small cell (e.g.,small cell 406) can provide higher data rate and moreflexible/cost/energy efficient operations. The macro cell 402, viaC-plane 410, can maintain good connectivity and mobility. Further, insome cases, LTE PUCCH and NR PUCCH can be transmitted on the samefrequency.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary 5G wireless communication system 500,according to some implementations of the current subject matter. Thesystem 500 can be configured to have a lower layer split architecture inaccordance with Option 7-2. The system 500 can include a core network502 (e.g., 5G Core) and one or more gNodeBs (or gNBs), where the gNBscan have a centralized unit gNB-CU. The gNB-CU can be logically splitinto control plane portion, gNB-CU-CP, 504 and one or more user planeportions, gNB-CU-UP, 506. The control plane portion 504 and the userplane portion 506 can be configured to be communicatively coupled usingan E1 communication interface 514 (as specified in the 3GPP Standard).The control plane portion 504 can be configured to be responsible forexecution of the RRC and PDCP protocols of the radio stack.

The control plane and user plane portions 504, 506 of the centralizedunit of the gNB can be configured to be communicatively coupled to oneor more distributed units (DU) 508, 510, in accordance with the lowerlayer split architecture. The distributed units 508, 510 can beconfigured to execute RLC, MAC and upper part of PHY layers protocols ofthe radio stack. The control plane portion 504 can be configured to becommunicatively coupled to the distributed units 508, 510 using F1-Ccommunication interfaces 516, and the user plane portions 506 can beconfigured to be communicatively coupled to the distributed units 508,510 using F1-U communication interfaces 518. The distributed units 508,510 can be coupled to one or more remote radio units (RU) 512 via afronthaul interface 520, which in turn communicate with one or more userequipment (not shown in FIG. 5). The remote radio units 512 can beconfigured to execute a lower part of the PHY layer protocols as well asprovide antenna capabilities to the remote units for communication withuser equipments (similar to the discussion above in connection withFIGS. 1a -2).

FIG. 6 illustrates a 5G wireless communication system 600, according tosome implementations of the current subject matter. The system 600 canbe part of the system 500 shown in FIG. 5. The system 600 can beconfigured to include one or more centralized units (CU) 602, one ormore distributed units (DU) 604 (a, b), one or more radio units (RU) 606(a, b, c), and one or more remote radio heads (RRH) 608 (a, b, c, d, e,f). The units 602-608 can be communicatively coupled using one or moreinterfaces discussed above.

In some implementations, the CU 602 can be communicatively coupled to DU604 a and DU 604 b. In turn, the distributed unit 604 a can becommunicatively coupled to the remote units 606 a and 606 b, wherebyunit 606 a can be coupled to two remote radio heads 608 a and 608 b andunit 606 b can be coupled to one remote radio head 608 c. Thedistributed unit 604 b can be coupled to the remote unit 606 c, which isin turn, coupled to three remote radio heads 608 d, 608 e, and 608 e.The system 600 shown in FIG. 6 can be configured as a virtualizeddisaggregated radio access network (RAN) architecture, whereby layersL1, L2, L3 and radio processing can be virtualized and disaggregated inthe centralized unit(s), distributed unit(s) and radio unit(s).

FIGS. 7a-b illustrate further details of an exemplary protocol stack ina 5G wireless communication system. In particular, FIG. 7a illustrates auser plane protocol stack 700 and FIG. 7b illustrates a control planeprotocol stack 710. Portions of the protocol stack are illustrated forboth an exemplary user equipment 702 and a base station (or portionthereof), e.g., gNodeB or gNB, 704. The user plane protocol stack 700can include PHY, MAC, RLC and PDCP layers. The control plane protocolstack 710 can include PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, as well as a NAS(non-access stratum, a portion of which can be incorporated into a 5Gcore control network 706, as shown in FIG. 7b ).

The protocol stack can include layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3. Layer 1 isPHYSICAL (PHY) layer. Layer 2 can include MAC, RLC and PDCP. Layer 3 isRRC layer as shown in FIGS. 7a -b.

Some of the functions of the PHY layer in 5G communications network caninclude error detection on the transport channel and indication tohigher layers, FEC encoding/decoding of the transport channel, hybridARQ soft-combining, rate matching of the coded transport channel tophysical channels, mapping of the coded transport channel onto physicalchannels, power weighting of physical channels, modulation anddemodulation of physical channels, frequency and time synchronization,radio characteristics measurements and indication to higher layers, MIMOantenna processing, digital and analog beamforming, RF processing, aswell as other functions.

The MAC sublayer of Layer 2 can perform beam management, random accessprocedure, mapping between logical channels and transport channels,concatenation of multiple MAC service data units (SDUs) belonging to onelogical channel into transport block (TB), multiplexing/demultiplexingof SDUs belonging to logical channels into/from TBs delivered to/fromthe physical layer on transport channels, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling betweenlogical channels of one UE, priority handling between UEs by means ofdynamic scheduling, transport format selection, and other functions. TheRLC sublayer's functions can include transfer of upper layer packet dataunits (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, reordering of data PDUs,duplicate and protocol error detection, re-establishment, etc. The PDCPsublayer can be responsible for transfer of user data, various functionsduring re-establishment procedures, retransmission of SDUs, SDU discardin the uplink, transfer of control plane data, and others.

Layer 3's RRC sublayer can perform broadcasting of system information toNAS and AS, establishment, maintenance and release of RRC connection,security, establishment, configuration, maintenance and release ofpoint-point radio bearers, mobility functions, reporting, and otherfunctions. ps III. Real-Time Processing in Wireless CommunicationsSystems

In some implementations, the current subject matter can be configured toperform real-time processing of data in wireless communications systems,such as LTE, 5G NR, and/or any other wireless communicationsenvironments. FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system 800 for performingreal-time processing of data (e.g., data packets), according to someimplementations of the current subject matter. The system 800 can beincorporated in one or more systems described above in connection withFIGS. 1a -7 b.

The system 800 can include one or more radio interface units 802 (a, b)that can provide an interface between one or more user equipments (notshown in FIG. 8) and one or more distributed units (DU) 804. Thedistributed units 804 can be virtualized distributed units (vDU) (asdiscussed above) and can operate as virtual machines (VM) and/or ascontainerized micro-services that can be executed in real-time on a hostoperating system (OS). As shown, for example, in FIG. 8, a vDU virtualmachine 804 can be configured to interface with two radio interfaceunits 802 (a, b). Each radio interface unit 802 can be configured tooperate three respective antennas or sectors 806 (a, b, c, d, e, f).Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the vDU virtual machine 804 can beconfigured to operate six sectors. As can be understood, otherarrangements of the vDU virtual machine 804 and its operationalcapabilities are possible.

In some implementations, the interface between the vDU 804 and the radiointerface units 802 can include an Ethernet interface that can beconfigured to for transmitting/receiving one or more data symbols 810per antenna-carrier (AxC) for each cell 808 (as shown in FIG. 8, thereare six cells 808 each with four transceivers and corresponding to thetwenty four AxC antennas). For each transmission in each cell with a 1milli-second subframe structure, there can be 14 symbol packets 812 thatcan be transmitted within each time transmission interval (TTI) 814. Ineach TTI 814, symbol packets 812 can be spaced 72 micro-seconds apart.As a result of such close spacing of symbols, signals can betransmitted/received at a low latency. To ensure that low latency ismaintained, the vDU 804 can be configured to perform data packetprocessing in real-time or substantially in real-time.

As stated above, the vDU 804 can be executed on a physical hostoperating system, where the host operating system's processingcomponents can be tuned to ensure that the low latency is maintained foreach application being executed by the vDU 804. However, because hostoperating system includes a kernel (i.e., a computer program at the coreof host operating system with complete control over everything in thesystem), periodically, the host may be configured to execute a big-lockor kernel-lock, which is a lock used in the kernel to provideconcurrency control and/or other system management mode (SMM) operationsthat is typically required by symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems.If kernel big-lock is executed or conditions requiring an SMI areencountered, the vDU virtual machine 804 can be configured to exit andstop running (i.e., not transmitting/receiving data). The host operatingsystem can take control over the system for a short period of time or anextended period of time. In the latter case, when the vDU virtualmachine 804 resumes operation, it can observe a “stretch” or a gap intime between symbols/slots. Such “stretch” can imply an amount of timethat has elapsed between a first time (“then”) when the vDU virtualmachine 804 took a last snapshot of the system time and stopped runningand a second time (“now”) when the vDU virtual machine 804 resumedoperations. If the elapsed amount of time between first and second timesis greater than a predetermined amount of time (e.g., hundreds ofmicro-seconds, etc.), the vDU virtual machine 804 can restart, as itcannot keep up with the real-time processing of data packets anymore.

Since one or more vDU virtual machines 804 may be associated with thesame host operating system, actions (e.g., rebooting, restarting, etc.)executed by one vDU virtual machine may affect operations of another vDUvirtual machine (e.g., causing it to reboot, restart, stop working,etc.). This may also cause the “stretch” to occur on the virtualmachines. This scenario may be referred to as a “noisy neighbor”scenario. Additionally, stretches may be caused by various errors,including virtual machine re-mapping errors, deployment issues,instantiation issues of virtual machines, testing protocol executed atthe host operating systems, as well as other issues.

Some exemplary “stretch” conditions can include, but, are not limitedto, testing of port redundancy for a multi-haul port in a base station.Such testing can generate a real-time processing latency of the activevDU virtual machines on a non-uniform memory access node or acrossnon-uniform memory access nodes. This causes vDU virtual machine toexceed its lms latency for LTE processing and, thus, encounter aninstability, thereby resulting in the “stretch” condition.

Other exemplary “stretch” conditions can include restarting avirtualized signal processing unit on a neighboring virtual machine onthe same non-uniform memory access node or on the adjacent non-uniformmemory access node of the same server served by the same host OS in SMPmode of operation. Restarting generates an error in the kernel logs thatindicates that the virtual function port associated with the vDU virtualmachine that is being re-initialized is still in reset. This causes theneighboring virtual machine that was operational to experience aninstability.

Additional examples of the “stretch” can include rebooting a neighboringvDU virtual machine (e.g., operating system level reboot). This affectsother vDU virtual machines on the same non-uniform memory access node.This is because the same operating system is shared between thenon-uniform memory access nodes (i.e., sockets) on the same server, thistype of vDU virtual machine reboot can cause problems to all vDU virtualmachines on the node(s).

Further, “stretch” conditions may be caused by a direct memory access(DMA) remapping error generated by the host operating system, as seen inthe kernel logs. When this happens, all vDU virtual machines on thatserver can experience an instability.

Moreover, vDU virtual machine instantiation can trigger noisy neighborproblem on other operational vDU virtual machines, because theunderlying host operating system as well as other components are thesame for the entire server. As can be understood, other conditions cantrigger interruptions in operations in one or more vDU virtual machines.

FIG. 9 illustrate an exemplary plot 900 illustrating processing ofsymbols. As shown in FIG. 9, there are 14 symbols (e.g., correspondingto 14 symbols shown in FIG. 8) that are being processed during eachtransmission interval 902. The processing of the symbols appears smoothuntil an interrupt or a stretch is detected at 904. At that point,processing is no longer smooth (e.g., as shown by the jagged edges onthe plot).

In some implementations, the current subject matter can provide amechanism to detect “stretch” latency between the first time (e.g.,“then” or prior to detection of an event) and the second time (e.g.,“now” or after the detection of the event). The mechanism can beimplemented in the vDU, for example, as part of its software layers, andcan provide a way to handle such stretches without interruptions (e.g.,to the stream of fronthaul packets using the interface between the vDU804 and the RIUs 802) and maintaining real-time or substantiallyreal-time processing by the vDU virtual machine.

In some implementations, the RIUs 804 can include a resiliencymechanism, which can be configured to generate a dummy symbol packetupon failure to receive a symbol packet for a particular antenna-carrier(AxC) for a particular sector. Such dummy packet can be configured tokeep the CPRI interface towards the remote radio unit (RRU)synchronized. This can also ensure that the radio interface unit 802 toradio CPRI interface is always synchronized.

In some implementations, upon detection of a condition of “stretch”(e.g., rebooting of another vDU virtual machine, etc.), the vDU 804 canbe configured to skip processing of one or more symbols that would benormally generated during one or more transmission time intervals(TTIs). Subsequent to the skipping, the vDU 804 can be configured toattempt to resynchronize with the radio interface unit 802. There-synchronization attempt can be executed after a predetermined periodof time that would be equivalent to the number of TTIs skipped. Forexample, the vDU 804, upon detection of the “stretch” condition (e.g.,corresponding to the “then” point in time), can be configured to skipprocessing of symbols during 2 transmission time intervals. This meansthat the vDU 804 would skip processing symbols for approximately 2milliseconds and attempt to resynchronize with the TIU 802 afterapproximately 2 milliseconds. In some exemplary, non-limitingimplementations, the vDU 804 can be configured to skip processing ofsymbols during a 5 millisecond interval and attempt to resynchronizewith the RIU 802 after 5 milliseconds. As can be understood, any otherperiod of time (smaller or larger than 2 or 5 milliseconds) can be usedfor the purposes of skipping of processing of symbols and attempt atresynchronization.

Such skipping can ensure that a particular sector can remain operationalafter the predetermined period of time due to the detected “stretch”.This is a non-intrusive procedure and does not affect the RRC connectedstates of the UEs in a particular sector(s). This means that that sectorcan remain operations and the user equipments can remain connectedwithin that sector.

FIG. 10 illustrate an exemplary process 1000 for handling conditionsdetected by one or more virtual machines executed on a host operatingsystem of a virtualized distributed unit of a base station, according tosome implementations of the current subject matter. The process 1000 maybe executed between components of Layer 1 1002 and Layer 2 1004. Layers1 and 2 can be responsible for preparing data for scheduling within eachtransmission time interval (TTI), which can be, for example, up to 1millisecond. As stated above, there are a predetermined number of symbolpackets that can be received from an external entity and that can bereceived at Layer 1 queue during each TTI.

During normal operation, once packets arrive at Layer 1 1002 andprocessed, they can be de-queued from Layer 1 queue. Layer 1 can thentransmit an indication of TTI (e.g., TTI Indication(W), where N cancorrespond to a particular TTI) to Layer 2 1004 so that Layer 2 canperform appropriate processing.

At 1006, Layer 1 1002 can detect one or more interrupt scenarios, as forexample, discussed above. This can result in CPU starvation forreal-time applications in Layer 1/Layer 2, whereby actual elapsed timecan be greater than the TTI time. Upon this occurrence, Layer 1 1002, attime N+1 can detect a high number of backlog (e.g., unprocessed/notde-queued) symbol packets in the queue. Layer 1 can, at 1008, then entera skip/resynch TTI mode and provide an appropriate indication to Layer 2(e.g., TTI Indication(‘N+1’) [SkipResynchTTIMode=‘Enable’]), so thatLayer 2 can also enter this mode.

At 1010, Layer 1 can initiate a resiliency mode (e.g., as discussedabove generation of a dummy symbol packet upon failing to receive asymbol packet for a specific AxC for a particular sector) and can skipprocessing of the symbol TTIs, however can continue to de-queue symbolpackets. Layer 1 can still continue processing of essential tasks. Layer2 can do the same tasks. Moreover, Layers 1 and 2 can continue to do thesame for the next predetermined number of TTIs (as shown, for example,in FIG. 10, there are five TTIs that can be skipped). At each, next TTIsskipping, Layer 1 can transmit an appropriate notification to Layer 2 toinform it that skipping of the TTI processing is to be performed (e.g.,TTI Indication(‘N+2’), TTI Indication(‘N+3’), TTI Indication(‘N+4’), TTIIndication(‘N+5’)).

At 1012, Layer 1 can exit the skip/resynch TTI mode, dequeue symbolpackets, and inform Layer 2 that it is existing this mode (e.g.,TTI_Indication(‘N+6’) [SkipResynchTTIMode=‘Disable’]), so that Layer 2can also exit this mode. At this point, Layer 1 and Layer 2 can returnto normal symbol processing.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary process 1100 for maintaining real-time(or substantially real-time) processing of symbols in a wirelesscommunication system, according to some implementations of the currentsubject matter. The process 1100 may be performed by one or morecomponents of a distributed unit and/or virtualized distributed unit. Insome exemplary implementations, the process 1100 may be executed by ahost operating system of a distributed unit that may be configured tohost one or more virtual machines. At 1102, one or more vDU virtualmachines can be configured to detect occurrence of an interruption inprocessing of symbols during one or more transmission time intervals(e.g., as shown in FIG. 9). The interruption can be a result from one ormore scenarios discussed above.

At 1104, the vDU virtual machine experiencing interruption can beconfigured to skip processing of symbols for a predetermined period oftime. The predetermined period of time can corresponding to one or moretransmission time intervals (TTIs) during which processing of symbolsoccurs. During the skipping, one or more components of the Layer 1 canbe configured to de-queue any symbol packets, but continue processing ofessential tasks (as discussed above with regard to FIG. 10).

At 1106, after expiration of the predetermined period of time, the vDUvirtual machine can return to the normal processing of symbol packets.

In some implementations, the current subject matter can be configured tobe implemented in a system 1200, as shown in FIG. 12. The system 1200can include one or more of a processor 1210, a memory 1220, a storagedevice 1230, and an input/output device 1240. Each of the components1210, 1220, 1230 and 1240 can be interconnected using a system bus 1250.The processor 1210 can be configured to process instructions forexecution within the system 600. In some implementations, the processor1210 can be a single-threaded processor. In alternate implementations,the processor 1210 can be a multi-threaded processor. The processor 1210can be further configured to process instructions stored in the memory1220 or on the storage device 1230, including receiving or sendinginformation through the input/output device 1240. The memory 1220 canstore information within the system 1200. In some implementations, thememory 1220 can be a computer-readable medium. In alternateimplementations, the memory 1220 can be a volatile memory unit. In yetsome implementations, the memory 1220 can be a non-volatile memory unit.The storage device 1230 can be capable of providing mass storage for thesystem 1200. In some implementations, the storage device 1230 can be acomputer-readable medium. In alternate implementations, the storagedevice 1230 can be a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an opticaldisk device, a tape device, non-volatile solid state memory, or anyother type of storage device. The input/output device 1240 can beconfigured to provide input/output operations for the system 1200. Insome implementations, the input/output device 1240 can include akeyboard and/or pointing device. In alternate implementations, theinput/output device 1240 can include a display unit for displayinggraphical user interfaces.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary method 1300, according to someimplementations of the current subject matter. The process 1300 can beperformed by the system 800 shown in FIG. 8. At 1302, an interruption ofprocessing of one or more first symbol packets at one or more wirelesscommunication components can be detected. The interruption can be causedby a “noisy neighbor” (e.g., one virtual machine restarting on a hostoperating system causing other virtual machines to restart). Thecommunication components can include a virtualized distributed unit. At1304, a predetermined period of time (e.g., 2 TTIs, 5 TTIs, etc.) for adelay in processing of one or more second symbol packets can bedetermined. The second symbol packets can be processed after the packetsfor the first symbol are de-queued/discarded. At 1306, processing of thesecond symbol packets can be delayed until expiration of thepredetermined period of time. At 1308, processing of the second symbolpackets can be resumed.

In some implementations, the current subject matter can include one ormore of the following optional features. In some implementations, atleast one of the detecting, the determining, the delaying, and theresuming can be performed by a base station. The base station caninclude at least one of the following communication components: one ormore remote radio units, one or more radio interface units, and one ormore distributed units. The distributed units can be configured tointerface with the radio interface units for processing of the first andsecond symbol packets.

In some implementations, the distributed units can be one or morevirtualized distributed units. The virtualized distributed units cancorrespond to one or more virtual machines being executed on a hostoperating system.

In some implementations, a first virtual machine can be configured todetect the interruption upon a restarting of a second virtual machine onthe same host operating system.

In some implementations, the predetermined period of time can bedetermined based on a multiple of a transmission time intervalcorresponding to a time for transmitting symbol packets between thevirtualized distributed units and the radio interface units. Forexample, the predetermined period of time can be 2 milliseconds.Alternatively, the predetermined period of time can be 5 milliseconds.In some implementations, the predetermined period of time can be Nmilliseconds (during which monitoring, detection and correction withoutservice disruption may be performed), where N can correspond to anamount of time after which the end user equipment can begin to noticeservice degradation and/or service interruption. In some exemplary,non-limiting implementations, N can be as high as hundreds (100s) ofmilliseconds.

In some implementations, the delaying can include de-queuing the firstsymbol packets from a processing queue. The first symbol packets can bede-queued and discarded by at least one of Layer 1 and Layer 2 of awireless communication device receiving the first symbol packets.

The systems and methods disclosed herein can be embodied in variousforms including, for example, a data processor, such as a computer thatalso includes a database, digital electronic circuitry, firmware,software, or in combinations of them. Moreover, the above-noted featuresand other aspects and principles of the present disclosedimplementations can be implemented in various environments. Suchenvironments and related applications can be specially constructed forperforming the various processes and operations according to thedisclosed implementations or they can include a general-purpose computeror computing platform selectively activated or reconfigured by code toprovide the necessary functionality. The processes disclosed herein arenot inherently related to any particular computer, network,architecture, environment, or other apparatus, and can be implemented bya suitable combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Forexample, various general-purpose machines can be used with programswritten in accordance with teachings of the disclosed implementations,or it can be more convenient to construct a specialized apparatus orsystem to perform the required methods and techniques.

The systems and methods disclosed herein can be implemented as acomputer program product, i.e., a computer program tangibly embodied inan information carrier, e.g., in a machine readable storage device or ina propagated signal, for execution by, or to control the operation of,data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor, a computer,or multiple computers. A computer program can be written in any form ofprogramming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, andit can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or asa module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in acomputing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executedon one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributedacross multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

As used herein, the term “user” can refer to any entity including aperson or a computer.

Although ordinal numbers such as first, second, and the like can, insome situations, relate to an order; as used in this document ordinalnumbers do not necessarily imply an order. For example, ordinal numberscan be merely used to distinguish one item from another. For example, todistinguish a first event from a second event, but need not imply anychronological ordering or a fixed reference system (such that a firstevent in one paragraph of the description can be different from a firstevent in another paragraph of the description).

The foregoing description is intended to illustrate but not to limit thescope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appendedclaims. Other implementations are within the scope of the followingclaims.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code,include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can beimplemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-orientedprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium can alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

To provide for interaction with a user, the subj ect matter describedherein can be implemented on a computer having a display device, such asfor example a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD)monitor for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and apointing device, such as for example a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well. For example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, suchas for example visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback;and input from the user can be received in any form, including, but notlimited to, acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The subject matter described herein can be implemented in a computingsystem that includes a back-end component, such as for example one ormore data servers, or that includes a middleware component, such as forexample one or more application servers, or that includes a front-endcomponent, such as for example one or more client computers having agraphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user caninteract with an implementation of the subject matter described herein,or any combination of such back-end, middleware, or front-endcomponents. The components of the system can be interconnected by anyform or medium of digital data communication, such as for example acommunication network. Examples of communication networks include, butare not limited to, a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network(“WAN”), and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally, but not exclusively, remote from each other andtypically interact through a communication network. The relationship ofclient and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on therespective computers and having a client-server relationship to eachother.

The implementations set forth in the foregoing description do notrepresent all implementations consistent with the subject matterdescribed herein. Instead, they are merely some examples consistent withaspects related to the described subject matter. Although a fewvariations have been described in detail above, other modifications oradditions are possible. In particular, further features and/orvariations can be provided in addition to those set forth herein. Forexample, the implementations described above can be directed to variouscombinations and sub-combinations of the disclosed features and/orcombinations and sub-combinations of several further features disclosedabove. In addition, the logic flows depicted in the accompanying figuresand/or described herein do not necessarily require the particular ordershown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Otherimplementations can be within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: detectingan interruption of processing of one or more first symbol packets at oneor more wireless communication components; determining a predeterminedperiod of time for a delay in processing of one or more second symbolpackets; delaying processing of the one or more second symbol packetsuntil expiration of the predetermined period of time; and performingprocessing of the one or more second symbol packets.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein at least one of the detecting, thedetermining, the delaying, and the resuming is performed by a basestation.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the base stationincludes at least one of the following communication components: one ormore remote radio units, one or more radio interface units, and one ormore distributed units.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein theone or more distributed units is configured to interface with the one ormore radio interface units for processing of the one or more first andsecond symbol packets.
 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein theone or more distributed units are one or more virtualized distributedunits, the one or more virtualized distributed units corresponding toone or more virtual machines being executed on a host operating system.6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a first virtual machine inthe one or more virtual machines is configured to detect theinterruption upon a restarting of a second virtual machine in the one ormore virtual machines.
 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein thepredetermined period of time is determined based on a multiple of atransmission time interval corresponding to a time for transmittingsymbol packets between the one or more virtualized distributed units andthe one or more radio interface units.
 8. The method according to claim7, wherein the predetermined period of time is 2 milliseconds.
 9. Themethod according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined period of timecorresponds to a period of time after which at least one of a servicedegradation and a service interruption is detected by a user equipmentcommunicating with the base station.
 10. The method according to claim1, wherein the delaying includes de-queuing the one or more first symbolpackets from a processing queue.
 11. The method according to claim 10,wherein the one or more first symbol packets are de-queued and discardedby at least one of Layer 1 and Layer 2 of a wireless communicationdevice receiving the one or more first symbol packets.
 12. An apparatuscomprising: at least one programmable processor; and a non-transitorymachine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by theat least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmableprocessor to perform operations comprising: detecting an interruption ofprocessing of one or more first symbol packets at one or more wirelesscommunication components; determining a predetermined period of time fora delay in processing of one or more second symbol packets; delayingprocessing of the one or more second symbol packets until expiration ofthe predetermined period of time; and performing processing of the oneor more second symbol packets.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12,wherein at least one of the detecting, the determining, the delaying,and the resuming is performed by a base station.
 14. The apparatusaccording to claim 13, wherein the base station includes at least one ofthe following communication components: one or more remote radio units,one or more radio interface units, and one or more distributed units.15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the one or moredistributed units is configured to interface with the one or more radiointerface units for processing of the one or more first and secondsymbol packets.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the oneor more distributed units are one or more virtualized distributed units,the one or more virtualized distributed units corresponding to one ormore virtual machines being executed on a host operating system.
 17. Theapparatus according to claim 16, wherein a first virtual machine in theone or more virtual machines is configured to detect the interruptionupon a restarting of a second virtual machine in the one or more virtualmachines.
 18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein thepredetermined period of time is determined based on a multiple of atransmission time interval corresponding to a time for transmittingsymbol packets between the one or more virtualized distributed units andthe one or more radio interface units.
 19. The apparatus according toclaim 18, wherein the predetermined period of time is 2 milliseconds.20. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the predeterminedperiod of time corresponds to a period of time after which at least oneof a service degradation and a service interruption is detected by auser equipment communicating with the base station.
 21. The apparatusaccording to claim 12, wherein the delaying includes de-queuing the oneor more first symbol packets from a processing queue.
 22. The apparatusaccording to claim 21, wherein the one or more first symbol packets arede-queued and discarded by at least one of Layer 1 and Layer 2 of awireless communication device receiving the one or more first symbolpackets.
 23. A computer program product comprising a non-transitorymachine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by atleast one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmableprocessor to perform operations comprising: detecting an interruption ofprocessing of one or more first symbol packets at one or more wirelesscommunication components; determining a predetermined period of time fora delay in processing of one or more second symbol packets; delayingprocessing of the one or more second symbol packets until expiration ofthe predetermined period of time; and performing processing of the oneor more second symbol packets.
 24. The computer program productaccording to claim 23, wherein at least one of the detecting, thedetermining, the delaying, and the resuming is performed by a basestation.
 25. The computer program product according to claim 24, whereinthe base station includes at least one of the following communicationcomponents: one or more remote radio units, one or more radio interfaceunits, and one or more distributed units.
 26. The computer programproduct according to claim 25, wherein the one or more distributed unitsis configured to interface with the one or more radio interface unitsfor processing of the one or more first and second symbol packets. 27.The computer program product according to claim 25, wherein the one ormore distributed units are one or more virtualized distributed units,the one or more virtualized distributed units corresponding to one ormore virtual machines being executed on a host operating system.
 28. Thecomputer program product according to claim 27, wherein a first virtualmachine in the one or more virtual machines is configured to detect theinterruption upon a restarting of a second virtual machine in the one ormore virtual machines.
 29. The computer program product according toclaim 27, wherein the predetermined period of time is determined basedon a multiple of a transmission time interval corresponding to a timefor transmitting symbol packets between the one or more virtualizeddistributed units and the one or more radio interface units.
 30. Thecomputer program product according to claim 29, wherein thepredetermined period of time is 2 milliseconds.
 31. The computer programproduct according to claim 29, wherein the predetermined period of timecorresponds to a period of time after which at least one of a servicedegradation and a service interruption is detected by a user equipmentcommunicating with the base station.
 32. The computer program productaccording to claim 23, wherein the delaying includes de-queuing the oneor more first symbol packets from a processing queue.
 33. The computerprogram product according to claim 32, wherein the one or more firstsymbol packets are de-queued and discarded by at least one of Layer 1and Layer 2 of a wireless communication device receiving the one or morefirst symbol packets.